Cinderella (character)
|shorts = The Art of Vacationing |shows = |games = |rides = |actress = Jessy Schram (Once Upon a Time) Lily James (2015 film) Eloise Webb (child; 2015 film) |animator = Eric Larson Marc Davis Mark Henn |voice = Ilene Woods (original film) Kath Soucie (Disney Parks) Jennifer Hale (2001-present) Tami Tappan (singing in Cinderella III) Karen Strassman (Mickey Mouse) |model = Helene Stanley Scarlett Johansson (in Disney Dream Portrait Series) |inspiration = Cinderella from the original fairy tale by Charles Perrault Ingrid Bergman Helene Stanley |alias = Cinderelly (by the mice) Servant Girl |personality = Kind, hard-working, intelligent, diligent, mature, strong-willed, thoughtful, independent, hopeful, determined, graceful, optimistic, skillful, tactical, sensible, compassionate, devoted, selfless |appearance = Slender, fair skin, pink lips, medium-length strawberry-blonde hair with soft bangs, blue eyes |occupation = The Tremaines' housekeeper (formerly) Princess |alignment = Good |affiliations = Disney Princesses |goal = To escape her life of misery and abuse (succeeded) |home = Her chateau (formerly) King's Castle |family = |pets = Bruno (dog) Major (horse) |friends = Jaq and Gus, Bruno, Major, Fairy Godmother, the rest of the mice and birds, Prince Charming, the Grand Duke, the King, Anastasia, the Baker |enemies = Lady Tremaine, Lucifer, Drizella, Anastasia (formerly), Franco DiFortunato |likes = Her fairy godmother's magic, going to balls, dancing, singing, animals, wearing beautiful gowns, dreams, romance, her dreams coming true |dislikes = Mistreatment from her stepfamily, being locked in her room by Lady Tremaine, Lucifer's mischief, not being able to attend the ball, the old castle traditions |powers = Communication with animals |fate = Marries Prince Charming, escapes her stepfamily, and lives happily ever after in the palace as a princess |quote = "If you tell a wish, it won't come true, and after all... A dream is a wish your heart makes." "Oh, well. What's a royal ball? After all, I suppose it would be frightfully dull, and-and-and boring, and-and completely... Completely wonderful."}} Cinderella is the protagonist of Disney's 1950 animated feature film of the same name, and the second official Disney Princess, following Snow White. Background Cinderella was born to wealthy, unnamed parents, who treated their daughter with great love. The family resided in a French chateau, just beyond a small but powerful kingdom. Sometime during her childhood, Cinderella's mother tragically was killed, and as a result of believing his daughter needed a mother figure in her life, Cinderella's father remarried to a woman named Lady Tremaine, who notably had two daughters of her own, both around Cinderella's age: Anastasia and Drizella. After the death of her father, Cinderella was under the control of Lady Tremaine, whose true colors finally surfaced, showing a cruel and cold-hearted woman. Her selfishness and vanity destroyed both the family fortune and left the once handsome chateau in disrepair. While pampering her own two daughters and spoiling them rotten, she raised Cinderella in abuse and virtual slavery. This was a result of being wickedly jealous of the young girl's natural beauty and charm, which she and her own daughters all lacked. This went on for many years, but Cinderella's personality still remained sweet, humble and kind. Official Description :Cinderella is kind to all, especially her mice friends, Jaq and Gus. She has faith that if you keep on believing, your wish will come true. With help from her fairy godmother, she gets a chance to live her dreams. Development The Disney version of the Cinderella was based on the protagonist of the French version of the tale by Charles Perrault, "Cinderella", written in 1698. Cinderella was animated by Marc Davis and Eric Larson, but the two animators did not have the same perception of the character, accentuating the elegance of Davis and Larson's opting for simplicity. This resulted in Cinderella being a more complicated character than her predecessor Snow White, due to her duality. As done with other Disney films, Walt Disney hired actress Helene Stanley to perform the live-action reference for Cinderella. She later was asked to do the same kind of work for the characters of Aurora in Sleeping Beauty and Anita Radcliffe in One Hundred and One Dalmatians. According to Christopher Finch, the author of The Art of Walt Disney: Voice About 400 contestants auditioned for the role of Cinderella. Out of them all, Walt Disney chose Ilene Woods, who worked on the radio at the time and did not know anything about the audition. One day, her colleagues Mack David and Jerry Livingston asked her to sing a song from Cinderella, and she agreed. Then, without saying a word to her, friends of Ilene transferred to the office of film Disney. After listening to the material, Walt Disney immediately decided that he had found the voice with which to speak and sing its main character, and contacted Ilene. Personality Despite being raised in toxicity and emotional abuse, Cinderella declared herself independent and strong-willed by remaining kind-hearted and self-loving, not allowing the bitterness surrounding her life to overtake her and morph her into someone as cruel as her stepfamily. She makes the most of her misfortunes by remaining optimistic of the possibilities of a brighter future, keeping herself preoccupied with enforced housework and friendly bonds built with her pets, and dozens of mice that have found themselves trapped over the years by Tremaine's mouse traps, only to be rescued and spared by Cinderella. In gratitude, the mice would become loyal companions to Cinderella, providing her with the company and serving as diligent helpers should something troubling occur. The mice's devotion to Cinderella would ultimately play a crucial role in the young woman escaping her abusive household, thus furthering the example of how Cinderella's evergreen kindness towards others, despite her situation, would ultimately lead to her uprising. As assumed, Cinderella's primary goal in life was to escape her stepfamily. However, as she was under Lady Tremaine's control since childhood, such a feat proved to be difficult, with the emotional abuse and manipulation having been planted in Cinderella's mind for far too many years, making for an obedient and fearful young woman when faced with Tremaine's wrath; she would typically make attempts to avoid any form of conflict with her stepmother as a direct result of this. Cinderella is also witty and sarcastic, at least when she is alone, and during those moments she would often make quips regarding her step family's laziness, lack of talent, and over-dependence on her. She is also unafraid to stand up for herself when she feels she's in the right—or at least, attempt to do so. And though she strives to contain her optimistic aura, she can fall into fits of frustration and annoyance quite often. This is seen through her interactions with Lady Tremaine's cat, Lucifer, who she sarcastically refers to as "Your Majesty", and openly berates for his cruel behavior, which mirrors that of her stepmother. Her daily goal is to make the most of her situation, but she never forces herself to bottle up her true emotions in an unhealthy manner; instead, wisely keeping them under control, while also keeping in mind that the future holds brighter experiences. In Cinderella III: A Twist in Time, Cinderella's hard-working ethics, optimism, and devotion are put to the test, when she is magically stripped away from her "happily ever after" by a vengeful and then magically-empowered Tremaine and is forced to jump into physical action to restore her happy life and relationship with Prince Charming. During these events, Cinderella is shown to be cunning, tactical, persistent, and a fierce rival to those who oppress her. With no magic, being forced to rely solely on her intelligence and fearlessness, Cinderella is able to defeat her stepmother and retain her much-deserved life of happiness, proving both her independence and strong will. Physical Appearance Cinderella is of average height, well-proportioned and slender with a softly-shaped, kind face. She has an hourglass figure and her skin is fair and flawless, her lips are pink, and her eyes a twinkling blue. Cinderella's hair is a beautiful strawberry-blonde (light strawberry-blonde in her childhood) and medium-length with soft bangs. In most of her appearances, she was seen in a maid's outfit which consisted of a dark brown bodice with light aquamarine long sleeves, and a brown, knee-length skirt. Her hair was softly tied back into a low ponytail with an aqua ribbon. She also wore a white apron and a pair of black ballet flats. On her occasional tasks, she wore a white apron and a scarf in her hair. In the near end of the movie, the sleeves of her maid outfit changed from light aquamarine to cyan and her hair is now loose rather than a low ponytail. In later appearances in both two direct sequels, the sleeves of Cinderella's maid outfit is now pale blue and her hair remains loose. For her first ball gown, she wore a frilly, sleeveless, pink-and-white dress with pink ribbons and a sash with jade and teal colored beads around her neck before her stepsisters violently destroyed it. Her second dress and most commonly seen Princess outfit is a sparkling silvery-blue ball gown with a low-cut neckline, lighter peplum, capped sleeves, opera gloves, a delicate laced white petticoat and glass slippers topped with sparkly hearts. (It should be noted, though, that the ball gown is often colored light powder blue in merchandise and later productions, and was even digitally recolored as such in the original film's DVD and Blu-Ray releases.) Her hair is pulled up into a variation of a French twist that is complimented with a light silver band over it. She also wears a simple black choker around her neck. Her wedding dress consists of a beautiful white dress and petticoat that exposed little cleavage. She uses her hair in a bun with a white tiara with another tiara (the same of the ball). Her veil is pulled back of her hair. The dress has long triangular sleeves, with a white ribbon around the neck, along with white high heels. In Cinderella II: Dreams Come True, she wore a pink-and-white version of her original Princess outfit, while getting ready for the banquet, the dress she had to wear was a pink, formal and rather puffy dress, with an elaborate hairstyle with lots of pink bows. The dress she wears to the royal ball she arranges is a sea green/teal ball gown rather like her original, but with a corset attached to a flat triangular overskirt and a spiky-laced white petticoat. She has a simple black choker with emeralds hanging on it. She wears a more sea green version of her original headband and evening gloves. In the live-action movie, Cinderella was portrayed as a beautiful and slender young woman with long, wavy blond hair and dark brown eyes. For the vast majority of the movie, she was seen in a blue dress, which later became a maid's outfit with the additions of a light maroon apron tied around her waist and a white scarf in her hair. Cinderella's first intended ballgown had been her mother's old dress, which she had mended herself: a simple style, somewhat old-fashioned, yet still, an elegant and beautiful gown made completely of blush-pink soft chiffon, with a ruffled neckline and puffed sleeves. Her second gown retained elements of her mother's dress, but it had been enhanced: the color changed from soft pink to sky-blue, the skirt filled out and swirled around her as she moved, and the sweeping neckline was decorated with pastel-colored butterflies. Her hair was styled in a half-chignon and adorned with diamonds, and her feet wore a pair of beautiful sparkling glass slippers that were surprisingly comfortable. Abilities *'Animal Empathy and Communication:' Cinderella has a special talent to empathize with animals, perceive what they say and communicate with them. Appearances ''Cinderella'' Cinderella is a daughter of a widowed aristocrat who gave her every luxury and comfort. Her father, believing she needed a mother's love, married Lady Tremaine, who has two daughters about her age: Anastasia and Drizella. However, after her father's death, Lady Tremaine reveals herself to be a passive-aggressive tyrant who is jealous of Cinderella's beauty. She, her daughters, and their pet cat Lucifer abuse and mistreat Cinderella, ultimately forcing her to become a scullery maid in her own home. She is notable for being silenced repeatedly by Lady Tremaine, creating the assumption that Cinderella is expected to do chores without speaking out. Her only friends around the château are the mice (especially Jaq and Gus), the birds, Bruno the dog, and Major the horse. One day, Cinderella receives an invitation to a royal ball at the King's Castle. She immediately delivers it to her stepmother, who tells her she can go―provided she finishes all her chores and is able to find something suitable to wear. After thanking her stepmother, she goes back to her room, where she shows the mice and birds a dress that had belonged to her late mother. As of that moment, her most magical experience of all had begun. She is about to begin fixing her dress when she is unexpectedly called downstairs by her impatient, needy stepsisters. The mice and birds, feeling sorry for her, take it upon themselves to repair the dress for Cinderella. Jaq and Gus find a sash that Anastasia doesn't want anymore, as well as some beads thrown out by Drizella, and take them to help fix the dress. Later that night, Cinderella sees a carriage outside the chateau through a large window. She goes to inform her stepmother that a carriage has arrived to take them to the ball. When Lady Tremaine notices that Cinderella has not yet dressed for the event, Cinderella replies that she is not going, to which Lady Tremaine points out that there are other times Cinderella will be able to attend while smiling wickedly about Cinderella not going. Cinderella walks back to her room and looks out the window of the castle, wondering what a royal ball will be like. Just then, her bird and mouse friends reveal a surprise: they had fixed the dress for her. She thanks them for showing how much they care for her, changes into the dress, and rushes downstairs to join her stepfamily. However, when they see Cinderella, Lady Tremaine compliments her dress and points out Drizella's beads. The stepsisters then fly into a rage and furiously tear Cinderella's dress apart until Lady Tremaine puts it to a stop. Cinderella is left with her dress reduced to rags as her stepmother wishes her good night before leaving for the ball with the stepsisters. It is in that moment that Cinderella's breaking point has finally been reached, and the girl bursts into tears and runs outside to the garden, with the mice, Bruno and Major watching her in sadness. She throws herself onto a bench and begins sobbing at the apparent loss of her dreams, feeling unable to continue enduring the cruelty of her stepfamily through hope and optimism. Shortly thereafter, the magical Fairy Godmother appears on a bench to comfort Cinderella, explaining the latter's hope still reigns strong, as the former wouldn't be able to appear otherwise. The Fairy Godmother then insists that Cinderella attends the ball and demonstrates her magical abilities as she transforms a pumpkin into a coach, mice into horses, Major into a coachman, and Bruno into a footman before transforming Cinderella's ragged dress into a beautiful, sparkling ball gown, complete with glass slippers. The Fairy Godmother warns Cinderella that all her magic will be undone at the stroke of midnight. Cinderella thanks her, unimaginably grateful for the Godmother's kindness, and quickly jumps into the coach and sets off for the ball, waving goodbye to the Fairy Godmother as she does. Cinderella arrives at the castle while the ball is still in procession. She walks upstairs to the castle's ballroom, where she attracts the attention of Prince Charming, who is enchanted by her sparkling appearance and walks over to her. He escorts her to the middle of the ballroom, and (surrounded by other maidens in attendance) the two begin to waltz. The two then have some private time together outside (courtesy of the Grand Duke), during which they become completely enthralled with each other and are about to kiss, but then the clock be